Crime

1
Crime Writing
Karen.Yager_at_det.nsw.edu.au
2
The Approach

• examine texts composed in a range of media that
  encompass and scrutinise a crime and its
  investigation
• The craft and artistry of writing
• The context, purpose and audience
• The medium, form and sub-genre
• The crime, the detective and the investigation
• The endurance and popularity of crime writing
  Why audiences since the inception of the
  'whodunit' murder mystery have been drawn to
  these texts.

3
The Transformation

• changing contexts and values have brought about
  changes in the traditional crime stories and
  resulted in new conventions, new understandings
  of what constitutes a crime and who plays the
  role of detective and even what justice means.

4
The Approach

• HSC Examination Rubrics
• In your answer, you will be assessed on how well
  you
• demonstrate understanding of the conventions of
  the genre and the ideas and values associated
  with the genre
• sustain an extended composition appropriate to
  the question, demonstrating control in the use of
  language.

5
The HSC Examination

• Sustained thesis or line of argument
• Judicial textual support
• Detailed references to your prescribed texts and
  texts of own choosing
• Key scenes and incidents used to explore plot,
  ideas, characters, setting, meaning and genre

6
The HSC Examination

• Integrated response
• Genre theory, context, values and perspectives
• Meaning What, why, how and impact
• Relationships Making connections with the texts
  through the thesis
• Synthesis The ideas and understanding you have
  gained from your exploration and close study of a
  range of texts and examination of genre theory

7
The Approach

• Interrogate the rubrics in the syllabus and
  prescription booklet
• Cross examine the key ideas or concepts that have
  emerged from your exploration of your prescribed
  texts and texts of own choosing
• Develop a range of lines of argument

8
The Clues

• well-integrated textual references and quotes in
  support of arguments
• In English Extension 1, synthesis is greatly
  valued. In some responses texts and arguments
  were woven seamlessly
• relevant understanding of literary theory,
  historical background and context
• insightful awareness and discussion of how
  ideas, concepts and meaning are shaped in texts.
• 2006, 2007 2008 Notes from the Marking Centre

9
Genre Theory

• genres are instances of repetition and
  differencedifference is absolutely essential to
  the economy of genre (Neale,1980).
• a means of constructing both the audience and
  the reading subject (Fiske,1987).
• Genres embody the crucial ideological concerns
  of the time in which they are popular
  (Fiske,1987).
• Relevant understanding of literary theory,
  historical background and context
• Genre theory was capably interwoven in the
  better responses
• (2007 2008 Notes from the Marking Centre)

10
Values

• The perspectives and intentions of the composer
  and his or her times shape the values or beliefs
  of the text.
• Interrogate the values considering why they are
  evident in the texts and what they tell you about
  the composer and the times.
• Recurrent values truth, integrity, compassion,
  justice

11
Meaning

• insightful awareness and discussion of how
  ideas, concepts and meaning are shaped in texts
  (2006 Notes from the Marking Centre)
• How the meaning is conveyed the form, medium of
  production, textual details and features

12
Anils Ghost

• The new novel hasn't so much raised the bar on
  the forensic thriller as moved it to another
  place entirely. He bends and stretches the novel
  into marvellous shapes, building cathedrals of
  story, mysterious and grand adventures of the
  everyday (www. Dave Weich.Powells.com).
• Yet the darkest Greek tragedies were innocent
  compared with what was happening here. Heads on
  stakes. Skeletons dug out of a cocoa pit in
  Matale

13
Anils Ghost Form

• Hybrid genre combining forensic crime with a
  political, historical and social focus
• A post-modern text that challenges the
  conventional form of the novel and the crime
  genre no closure, vignettes, polyphony

14
Anils Ghost The Writer

• Born in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 1943. Of Tamil,
  Sinhalese and Dutch descent horrified by the
  violence in such a beautiful setting against a
  backdrop of Buddhism
• His mothers gift was her enthusiasm for the arts
• Enigmatic father trying to find the central
  characterbecame a habit. In all my books there
  are mysteries that are not fully told.
• Rejects fervent ideology

15
Anils Ghost The Writing

• Poetic, lyrical and suggestive
• Polyphony You cannot rely on just Anil to tell
  the truth, or just Gamini, or just Sarath, or
  just Palipana, or just Ananda, or whoever it is,
  to have the only voice.
• Gaps, silences and understatements the
  vignettes The colour of a shirt. The sarongs
  pattern. The hour of disappearance
• Intrudes with political statements and insightful
  observations of life, art and people, often
  through Gamini - Who sent a thirteen-year old to
  fight, and for what furious cause? For an old
  leader? For some pale flag?

16
Anils Ghost The Writing

• Structure is chaotic and non-linear and
  cinematic, employing flashbacks, jump cuts form
  one scene to another, fractured sentences You
  can't enter my novel with any sureness of where
  you are going to go.
• Use of intertextuality, historical facts and
  actual place names adds authenticity further
  evoking horror

17
The Crime Context

• I see the world as utterly dangerous, that its
  a very tenuous, accidental world and what you
  love, especially the people you love, can be
  swept away in an instant.
• A war waged on three fronts by its own people
  against its own people
• Anil to focus on one crime the murder of Sailor
  - representative of all those lost voices. To
  give him a name would name the rest
• Every side was killing and hiding the evidence.
  Every sideSo its secret gangs and squads

18
The Investigation

• Investigation of the death of so many Sri Lankans
  is initiated by an international human rights
  group
• Anil and Sarath employ forensic science and art
  to investigate when and how the murders were
  committed, and Sailors identity
• Thwarted by government officials and those people
  who do not want the perpetrators exposed
• Sarath becomes the victim of the drive to silence
  the stories and stop further investigations

19
The Detective

• In modern times, the female forensic sleuth has
  grown in popularity
• Anil is independent, resolute, highly skilled,
  intelligent and strong, but even she cannot bring
  to justice the perpetrators of a crime that is
  too extensive and unstoppable.
• Anil fits the detective profile she is a flawed
  loner - her family is dead, she has discarded a
  husband and a lover but she is honorable and
  determined to uncover the truth and seek justice
  We use the bone to search for it. The truth
  shall set you free.

20
The Ideas

• Truth There are various versions of the truth.
  Ondaatje explores public and private truth.
  Those in power own public truth it can be
  shaped, twisted and distorted at will.
• Humanitys inhumanity The terrible, senseless
  internecine crimes are inexplicable all of
  humanity is guilty and capable of committing dark
  crimes - We do it to ourselves.
• Apathy Ignorance The West ignored what
  happened in Sri Lanka, Thats enough reality for
  the West

21
The Ideas

• Healing power of nature The beautiful images of
  nature are juxtaposed with the disconcerting
  images of suffering and death.
• The value and beauty of art and culture Art is a
  redemptive act that symbolises the wonder and
  skill of humanity not just a culture of death,
  its an intricate, subtle, and artistic culture.
  I wanted to celebrate it.
• Danger of Ideology Gamini as a doctor who has
  spent countless hours trying to save lives, is
  cynically aware of the terrible consequences of
  strong ideology when people believe what they are
  doing is right and that war justifies the end
  result

22
Conventions

• The Setting Sri Lanka may be a country, but it
  is isolated by the Governments cone of silence
  and the wests indifference.
• Closure There is an unexpected ending and no
  real closure as the crimes will not end. Solace
  and hope are found in the redemptive powers of
  art. The reader is warned from the beginning
  that there will be no justice Nobody at the
  Centre for Human Rights was very hopeful about
  it. "I see the poem or the novel ending with an
  open door." Ondaatje

23
The Values

• Ondaatje rejects the war and aggression as he is
  disturbed by its impact on the lives of the
  innocent people who are ignored by nations. Their
  voices have been silenced and they have chosen
  passive acceptance so try to survive. He has
  stated that his core values are reconciliation,
  compassion and forgiveness. These are the values
  of a pacifist who rejects ardent ideology and the
  abuse of power.
• Truth Truth sometimes can be, you know, as
  dangerous as falseness.

24
The Values

• Pacifism Acts of violence are viewed by Ondaatje
  as destructive and dehumanising for all players -
  It is much more difficult to be a pacifist than
  it is to be a man of actionPacifism,
  reconciliation, forgiveness are easily mocked and
  dismissed words. But only those principles will
  save us.
• Compassion Caring for others is paramount in
  this novel. The doctors despite hardship and
  danger stay to help the victims of war. Gamini
  works long, arduous hours to ease suffering and
  save lives.

25
Anils Ghost - Thesis

• The detective in crime writing offers hope that
  justice and truth will prevail.
• Anil blindly pursues truth believing that by
  discovering Sailors identity and that of his
  killers, the there will be some form of justice
  for all those whose voices have been silenced
  We use the bone to search for it. The truth
  shall set you free. I believe that. However,
  she cannot bring to justice the perpetrators of a
  crime that is too extensive and unstoppable.
  Every side was killing and hiding the evidence.
  
• Sarath challenges Anils relentless pursuit "The
  truth can be like a flame against a lake of
  petrol.
• Palipana "Most of the time in our world, truth
  is just opinion."

26
Anils Ghost - Thesis

• Crime writings popularity can be partially
  attributed to its exploration of the dark side of
  humanity.
• Ondaatje persuades the reader to consider how all
  of humanity is guilty and capable of committing
  dark crimes. We do it to ourselves. (p. 140)
• Every side was killing and hiding the evidence.
  Every sideSo its secret gangs and squads. (p.
  17) Everyone to some extent is guilty whether it
  is through killing, indifference or silence, Now
  we all have blood on our clothes. (p. 48)
• Yet the darkest Greek tragedies were innocent
  compared with what was happening here. Heads on
  stakes. Skeletons dug out of a cocoa pit in
  Matale (p. 11).

27
Anils Ghost - Thesis

• The currency and realism of crime writing makes
  it the ideal vehicle to challenge our way of
  thinking about society and humanity.
• Ondaatje as a post modernist challenges fervent
  ideology. Gamini who has spent countless hours
  trying to save lives, is cynically aware of the
  terrible consequences of strong ideology when
  people believe what they are doing is right, and
  that war justifies the end result, He turned
  away from every person who stood up for a war.
  Or the principle of ones land, or pride or
  ownership, or even personal rights. All of those
  motives ended up somehow in the arms of careless
  power. One was no better no worse than the
  enemy. (p. 119) and The way the terrorists in
  our time can be made to believe they are eternal
  if they die fighting for the cause of their
  ruler. (p. 261)

28
Courtesy of Prue Greene Senior Curriculum
Advisor
29
changing contexts and values
Post World War II America

• McCarthyism and the loss of faith in public
  officials and distrust with the representatives
  of justice
• General distrust of the person next door who may
  have communist sympathies or be involved in
  communist activities. From 1941 -57 it was
  illegal to be a member of the Communist Party
• Empowerment of ordinary people to take an active
  role in policing their own worlds - to be
  vigilant and watchful
• Changing role of women
• Glamour and fashion

30
New and Old Conventions

• English crime writing detectives were often from
  wealthy and educated backgrounds
• Jeff, intelligent and smart but not a detective
• He looks and makes meaning and stories with
  photographs

31
Subversions Transformations

• The trapped detective inactive and powerless
• The woman as agent acting on his and her own
  behalf
• The tracking and surveillance of the criminal
  before the crime, no need for the conventional
  witness statements to fill the back-story

It is not a tale of 'who did it' whereby the
viewer awaits to see if the detective can solve
the crime rather one waits to see if Jeff's
hypothesis is true
32
Subversions Transformations

• The apartment complex becomes the closed world
  of traditional country house or village
  detective stories
• The crime is uncovered by the detective rather
  than being brought to him to be solved Jeff
  discovers and solves the crime

33
The Story narrative structure
Dual Narratives, dualities, hybridity and binary
oppositions
The Romance
The murder mystery
Will Jeff and Lisa break up?
Has Thorwald killed Mrs Thorwald?
Man of action and adventure becomes dependant on
a woman
Can Jeff prove she was murdered?
Can Lisa find the evidence?
High maintenance dependant woman becomes woman
of action and adventure
34
How the story is told
The auteur Alfred Hitchcock Although adapted
from a novel by Cornell Woolrich, and written by
John Michael Hayes , Alfred Hitchcock is
considered to be the author (or auteur) because
of his composition of the mise-en-scene according
to Auteur Theory which was first discussed by
French film theorists. Francois Truffaut had a
major role in valuing Alfred Hitchcock and his
films beyond Hollywood.
mise-en-scene everything that appears before
the camera
Truffaut's theory maintains that all good
directors (and many bad ones) have such a
distinctive style or consistent theme that their
influence is unmistakable in the body of their
work.
35
The auteur Alfred Hitchcock and Rear Window

• Distinctive style and themes
• The visual use the visual component of film to
  create reactions in the viewer e.g. the building
  of suspense
• Scopophilia the act and love of looking
• Voyeurism looking through windows or at the
  lives of others

"Once the screenplay is finished, I'd just as
soon not make the film at all...I have a strongly
visual mind. I visualize a picture right down to
the final cuts.
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Viewing suturing the viewer into the experience
with shot-reverse-shot creating suspense
37
(No Transcript)
38
Tell me everything you saw and what you think it
means
39
The Real Inspector Hound

• As The Real Inspector Hound is a refinement text
  it is able to successfully parody established and
  well known conventions of the crime fiction genre
  the British cozy. Stoppard aware of the
  popularity and longevity of Christies play,
  playfully questions its place in a chaotic modern
  world in the midst of the futile Vietnam War, and
  transforms the genre into a melodramatic comedy.
• the author has taken the trouble to learn
  from the masters of the genre. He has created a
  real situation, and few will doubt his ability to
  resolve it with a startling denouement.
  Certainly that is what it so far lacks, but it
  has a beginning, a middle and I have no doubt it
  will prove to have an end. (Birdboot p. 31)

40
The Real Inspector Hound - Form

• Its a whodunit, man!
• Post-modern, playful parody of the Golden Age
  cosy confronts us with the clichéd conventions
  and stereotypical characters of the genre
• Use of the mirror, the explicit stage directions
  and the merging of the two plays challenge the
  audience to ponder why we are drawn to this genre
  and how even when it is entertaining and humorous
  we cannot ignore the darker side of humanity.

41
The Real Inspector Hound The Writer

• Prufrock (a poem by Eliot) and Beckett are the
  twin syringes of my diet, my arterial system.
• Influenced by the Absurdists
• Postmodernist who rejects ideology
• Between 1962-1963 he worked as a theatre critic
  in London for Scene magazine under the by-line
  William Boot

42
The Real Inspector Hound The Writing

• Entertaining, melodramatic parody of the popular
  and very familiar British cosy. Parody is
  repetition, but repetition that includes
  difference. It is imitation with critical ironic
  distance, whose irony can cut both ways (Linda
  Hutcheon).
• Refinement of the genre enables writers like
  Stoppard to play with the conventions

43
The Real Inspector Hound The Writing

• Employs the stock features of melodrama
  slapstick humour, hyperbole, stereotypical
  characters and double entendre to effectively
  mock the conventions of the cosy
• Play within a play and the mirror - Dislocation
  of an audiences assumptions is an important part
  of what I like to write.

44
Crime and Context

• Stoppard aware of the popularity and longevity of
  Christies play, playfully questions its place in
  a chaotic modern world in the midst of the futile
  Vietnam War in the late 1960s
• A number of guests who were all revealed as
  having a motive to commit the crime - One of us
  ordinary mortals thrown together by fate and the
  elements, is the murderer!

45
The Detective

• Title with its emphasis on real', questions from
  the start the role of the detective
• What disconcerts the audience is that the
  detective is the killer and the crime is not
  neatly solved.
• The absence of a detective subverts and mocks the
  conventions of the British cosy that relied on
  the detective to restore order and ensure that
  there is justice.
• In the world of the 1960s with the Vietnam War
  and political unrest, the world is not rational.

46
Ideas

• Desires and Dreams Stoppard playfully exposes
  the dangers of pursuing our deepest desires and
  wishes. Birdboot considers it his right to seduce
  young actresses. Moons envy and desire to be the
  main theatre critic are exaggerated in the play
  Sometimes I dream that I killed him.
  Ironically his desires are ruthlessly pursued by
  his third stinger Puckeridge who realises his
  ambitions through murder Puckeridgeyou cunning
  bastard.
• Hypocrisy Birdboot justifies his affairs with
  the actresses, and boasts about his ability to
  launch the career of an actress

47
Values

• Communication The critics in the play talk but
  they do not communicate. Their egocentric,
  asinine comments are hollow and meaningless. The
  banter of the characters on stage is equally
  spurious and superficial.
• Integrity and Honesty Neither the characters or
  the critics reveal integrity.
• Truth and Honesty Stoppards later plays are
  political and focused on exposing the absence of
  truth in society. In this play, Stoppard
  satirises reality and truth.

48
The Real Inspector Hound - Thesis

• Parody depends on and disrupts a responders
  expectations about a text.
• The focus of the play is the entertaining,
  melodramatic parody of the popular and very
  familiar crime fiction genre. Stoppard stated
  that his purpose was to entertain the audience,
  so he employs the stock features of melodrama
  slapstick humour, hyperbole and double entendre
  to effectively mock the conventions of the genre.
• The play relies on the audiences prior knowledge
  of a cosy the isolated setting, the usual
  suspects, the red herrings
• The play within a play.
• The lack of a detective and closure.

49
The Skull Beneath the Skin

• I think thats one of the attractions of the
  genre, that it does bring order out of
  disorderIt affirms the sanctity of life, however
  unpleasant that character may be, and it confirms
  our belief that we live in a moral and
  compassionate universe. And that we can have some
  justice, even if it is the imperfect justice of
  men P.D. James.
• Being in the refinement period, this text
  employs a young female private investigator.
  Cordelia rationally and purposefully searches for
  clues to solve the mystery of Clarissas
  potential murderer, but she can be inept. James
  drawing on the cosy puzzle litters the pages of
  the novel with various clues and red herrings for
  the reader to discover the identity of the
  murderer before Cordelia solves the mystery.
  Like Stoppard, James mocks the cosy's clichés and
  melodrama.

50
The Skull Beneath the Skin The Form

• P.D.James has created a hybrid crime fiction
  novel that blends the conventions of gothic
  horror and the cosy.
• She metafictionally mocks the crime genre - It
  sounds like the chapter heading for one of those
  thirties snobbish thrillers

51
The Skull Beneath the Skin - Writer

• P.D. James is attracted to the detective story by
  the catharsis of carefully controlled terror,
  the bringing of order out of disorder, the
  reassurance that we live in a comprehensible and
  moral universe and that, although we may not
  achieve justice, we can at least achieve an
  explanation and a solution.
• Context of the early 1980s when the individual
  was becoming more important than the community
  and the family unit.

52
The Skull Beneath the Skin - Writing

• The isolated setting with the Victorian mansion
  that has gothic features marries the two genres
  in this hybrid text Setting, important in any
  work of fiction It establishes atmosphere,
  influences plot and character and enhances the
  horror of murder, sometimes by contrast between
  the beauty and outward peace of the scene and the
  turbulence of human emotions.
• Characters are very deliberately drawn with
  detail - The characters should be real human
  beings, each of whom comes alive for the reader,
  not pasteboard people to be knocked down in the
  final chapter."

53
The Skull Beneath the Skin - Detective

• P.D. James has crafted an appealing,
  inexperienced and vulnerable detective in
  Cordelia Gray - How sweet she was, with that
  gentle, self-contained dignity
• She is alone like Anil and Jeff with an uneasy
  past she was placed in foster care by her
  Marxist father - She guarded her privacy
• Her innocence and strong sense of justice and
  integrity mark her as an outsider in a corrupt
  and tainted world - I cant believe that a
  human being could be so evil.

54
The Skull Beneath the Skin - Ideas

• Evil Cordelia is shocked by the dark side of
  humanity that is capable of so much evil
• Egocentricity Clarissas selfishness and cruelty
  shocks Cordelia who finds it difficult to work as
  her private investigator - Clarissa doesnt
  understand about guilt
• Fear of Death The title signifies our mortality
  and our fear of death. Clarissa continually
  focuses on dying, Ivo is dying from cancer, and
  Gorringe morbidly satisfies his fascination by
  surrounding himself with artefacts of death
  There never was a time when I didnt see the
  skull beneath the skin.

55
The Skull Beneath the Skin - Values

• Justice James explores the crimes of society and
  the resolution of these crimes through the
  rational and determined actions of Cordelia to
  demonstrate that order can be restored. Even
  though the reader may feel that Clarissa and
  Simons deaths were deserved, James asserts that
  murder is never justifiable It affirms the
  sanctity of life, however unpleasant that
  character may be, and it confirms our belief that
  we live in a moral and compassionate universe.
  And that we can have some justice, even if it is
  the imperfect justice of men
• Altruism Cordelias kindness and selflessness
  are apparent from the opening of the novel.
  Despite running a struggling agency she continues
  to employ misfit characters. Her unselfishness
  is juxtaposed with Clarissas egocentric,
  uncaring attitude and behaviour.

56
The Skull Beneath the Skin - Thesis

• The continued popularity of the crime writing
  has been assured by the emergence of subversions.
• I've tried to use the well-worn conventions of
  the mystery and subvert them, stretch them, use
  them to say something true about my characters,
  about men and women and the society in which they
  live P.D. James.
• The detective Cordelia Gray has an uneasy past
  and she lacks the intellectual capacity of the
  traditional cosy detective.
• The isolated setting at Sir Ambrose Gorringe's
  Victorian castle is a convention of the cozy but
  the blending of the cozy with the gothic genre is
  a subversion It stood on the edge of the sea,
  almost as if it had risen from the waves, a
  castle of rose-red brick (p. 69).

57
The Skull Beneath the Skin - Thesis

• The continued popularity of the genre has been
  assured by the emergence of subversions.
• Parody and self-reflexity James mocks the cozy
  genre We are all here together, the of us on
  this small and lonely island. And one of us is a
  murderer. Reviewing Agatha Christie at the
  Vaudeville is a poor preparation for the real
  thing.

58
The Skull Beneath the Skin - Thesis

• One of the key attractions of crime writing is
  humanitys obsession with mortality.
• The title signifies our mortality and our fear of
  death Clarissa I dont remember when it began,
  but I knew the facts of death before I knew the
  facts of life. There never was a time when I
  didnt see the skull beneath the skin.
• But in all societies there was an atavistic fear
  of the malevolent power of a secret adversary,
  working for evil, willing one to failure, perhaps
  to death (p. 60).
• Clarissa continually focuses on dying, Ivo is
  dying from cancer, and Gorringe morbidly
  satisfies his fascination by surrounding himself
  with artefacts of death. Its my death Im
  afraid of (Clarissa, p. 123).

59
Thesis Line of Argument

• What piece of work is man?
• Genres may develop differences to reflect the
  changing times, but the fascination with what it
  is to be human remains constant our flaws,
  desires, values, attitudes, actions, motives
• Who we are and who we want to be - Identity
• What we are capable of the dark side, the
  knight errant, the intellect, the femme fatale
• How we respond inaction or action

60
What piece of work is a man?

• The Real Inspector Hound
• Dark desires wish fulfillment
• Greed and ambition
• Egocentricity
• Skull Beneath the Skin
• How the characters... became the people they
  are, the people capable of such deeds PD. James.
• Human frailty Greed, revenge, jealousy

61
Thesis Line of Argument

• What piece of work is man?
• Anils Ghost
• Inhumanity and our compassion
• Action vs. inaction
• Fear and oppression
• Rear Window
• Voyeurism
• Violence and rage
• Insecurity and fear of intimacy

62
Thesis Line of Argument

• The setting is an essential feature of all crime
  writing.
• Anils Ghost
• Poignantly beautiful isolated by the
  Governments cone of silence and the wests
  indifference.
• Rear Window
• Claustrophobic
• Isolated
• Vulnerable

63
Thesis Line of Argument

• The setting is an essential feature of all crime
  writing.
• The Real Inspector Hound
• The close, intimate setting of the theatre
• this strangely inaccessible house
• Skull Beneath the Skin
• Sir Ambrose Gorringe's Victorian castle situated
  on a remote island
• Place matters to me tremendously P.D.James.

64
Texts of Own Choosing

• Select texts that enable you to develop a line of
  argument effectively and integrate your response
  they could support or challenge your thesis.
• It was evident in the more sophisticated
  responses that candidates had individually and
  carefully selected other texts that would
  develop their argument in an effective manner
  (2007 Notes from the Marking Centre).

65
Texts of Own Choosing

• Choose texts from a range of modes, media and
  forms or different times and/or cultures.
• Select your own texts rather than using the same
  texts as your class as this will invite personal
  engagement, and original and perceptive
  interpretations.
• Select texts that enable you to discuss the HOW
  and meaning effectively.

66
Imaginative Responses

• The authentic voice of characters and the
  convincing descriptions of settings characterised
  better responses which were thereby demonstrating
  a sophisticated ability to consider the
  conventions, ideas and values of their genres.
• The 2007 Notes from the Marking Centre

67
2009-2012 Prescriptions Rubric

• The nature of the crime Consider what crimes are
  especially relevant and fascinating to a modern
  audience in the 21st century, such as terrorism,
  corporate crime, guns smuggling, kidnapping, etc.
• The Investigation The tools, the methods and
  what hinders or facilitates the investigation.
• The detective Ethics, values, background,
  biases, perspectives, etc

68
Imaginative Responses

• Key Considerations
• The direction and intent of the question.
• The craft of composing a crime fiction text
  form, use of language and textual details,
  structure, voice and demonstrated understanding
  of the genre.
• The context social, cultural and historical of
  your text.
• The values conveyed by your text.
• The key ideas and issues of your text.

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Imaginative Responses

• The craft of composing
• Form traditional narrative, multiple
  perspectives, pastiche?
• Use of language and textual details
  descriptions, imagery figurative devices,
  dialogue, show not tell!
• Structure paragraphing and syntax, non-linear?,
  no resolution?
• Voice originality, authenticity and perspective.
• Genre conventions, subversions, unique features?

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Imaginative Responses

• The context
• Times
• Setting
• Detective
• Perspectives
• Characters
• Crime/s and investigation
• Ideas and meaning
• Values
• The better responses revealed a degree of
  complexity and individuality in the character of
  the detective, a wide range of social and
  cultural contexts and a vast array of crimes.
  2006

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Imaginative Responses

• The context times and setting
• Authenticity and realism know your times and
  setting!
• Key events that have resonated for you.
• Crime fiction writers intimately establish
  setting.
• Eye for detail.
• Some candidates incorporated a powerful and
  evocative description of the scene in the image
  to contextualise their story and then moved into
  a narrative shift.

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The Ideas

• Crime does pay
• Justice and morality
• Loss of innocence
• Peer pressure
• Duality
• Morality
• Greed
• Ambition

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The Setting

• Orient and re-orient your reader
• Establish a world for your characters
• Focus on showing not telling through imagery
  appealing to the senses especially sound, colour,
  touch and smell, strong verbs, contrast, and a
  variety of sentence structures.
• You could use A cityscape, a narrow alleyway,
  the suburb you live in, an amusement park such as
  Luna Park or Dreamworld

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The Crime Investigation

• Decide what the crime will be remembering your
  audience and times.
• Take a leaf out of Flanagans novel The Unknown
  Terrorist or focus on a crime from the past that
  continues to haunt modern audiences.
• Investigation shaped by your choice of sleuth,
  setting and crime. You could focus on what
  thwarts the investigation and its twists and
  turns.

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The Detective

• Flaws, perspectives and values
• World they move in
• You may opt to subvert this convention and use an
  individual who is not a detective. They could be
  the killer or the victim or even the weapon!

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Characters

• Dialogue and voice
• Eyes
• Action or inaction
• Idiosyncrasies
• Talismans
• How they move in their setting
• Relationships
• Perspectives and values

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Characters

• Create characters who are real to the reader, who
  evoke an emotional response within the reader,
  and you create suspense because the reader will
  want to know what is going to happen to these
  people. Think of the character in Dexter! Make
  your criminal charming and give them a flaw just
  like your detective. The main trick is to get
  inside the character's head and to try to present
  him as fully human. No one looks in the mirror
  and sees a bad guy we all have our
  justifications and rationalisations (Barry
  Eisler, Rain Fall 2005).

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• Armanskys star researcher was a pale, anorexic
  young woman who had hair as short as a fuse, and
  a pierced nose and eyebrowsshe had a dragon
  tattoo on her left shoulder blade. She was a
  natural redhead, but she died her hair raven
  blackShe was 24 but she sometimes looked 14.

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Structure

• Incorporate different perspectives
• Use the third person but employ stream of
  consciousness so that the reader gets inside the
  head of your character
• Challenge the readers assumptions by subverting
  the narrative structure such as by having no
  resolution.

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Values

• Select the core values that will underpin your
  text. These values could be the beliefs of the
  sleuth or could have been compromised by society
  or the criminal.
• Integrity, honesty, loyalty, compassion,
  inclusivity, truth

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Imaginative Responses

• Genre
• Unless you intend to write a parody, beware!
• Better responses were often characterised by
  layered and experimental narrative form,
  sometimes in a hybrid of genres (2006 Notes from
  the Marking Centre).

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Imaginative Responses

• Use good writers as models especially those who
  nail setting and voice
• Practice
• Work on dialogue
• Focus on how the characters reflect and accept or
  reject the world they move in
• Ensure that you have a central concept or idea
• Work on creating sensuous and evocative imagery

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Preparation

• Find a series of images on Google and use them as
  a stimulus for writing.
• Use a film clip or an instrumental piece as a
  stimulus for writing. You could take one of the
  lines from the film and incorporate it into your
  writing such Jokers line from Batman The Dark
  Knight After this there is no going back.
• Compose a 50 word micro-story. Could use a mirror
  as a motif and duality as your concept.

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Preparation

• Exercise
• As each image appears jot down the following
• Setting Time, place and context
• Plot outline in one-two sentences
• Detective/sleuth Who?
• What if?
• Main concept or idea

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